A New Beginning

Sometimes we become so stale in our way of life, that we need a change, a refreshing, a new beginning. Or maybe all we need is just a new approach to life, with all of its ups and downs. A new focus, if you will, on our routine of life.
What breaks up the monotony of day after day ,into week after week, into month after month, of the endless grind of working at a job to make a living? It's that long-awaited, planned and saved up for, vacation.
On a vacation, the routine of a hectic schedule is interrupted with one to three weeks of laid-back, sunshine-in-your-face, toes-in-the-sand, rest and relaxation. We call it a little "R n R". What does the vacation do for you? It allows you to rest, forget about work, the bills, the daily "bump and grind" at the workplace, the 'grown-up' responsibilities; and allows you to spend time with your family in a happy place-a vacation resort, amusement park, a beach, etc.
Once the "R n R' is over, you're back on the job and into your never ending schedule of life. But while on vacation, did you bail out of your life and its hectic schedule? Did you find that deserted island, set up your little shack on the beach and plan to live the rest of your life as a hermit? Did you get so fed up with your life that you abandoned your responsibilities and your dreams because things got a little tough?
No ,you didn't give up or quit. You went right back to your home, your job, your responsibilities, your life. You see, you realize that it is all worth it, to go through life with a beautiful family, a home, a sense of security, and yes, even the hard battles and rocky places of life. You know all the while, that where one vacation ends, that just around the corner another one is soon to begin.
So it is in our spiritual walk with God. Sometimes, with what appears to be a never-ending 'bump and grind' spiritual battle, a dry desert, a wilderness, a mass bombing of temptations: ranging from visual enticements to mental thought attacks, is really just God's way of getting you stable enough and firmly rooted deep enough in him, so that he can send you on that spiritual 'R n R'. That rest and relaxation in him, where everything looks good from up on the mountaintop.
How do you climb a mountain? By first walking through the valley or wilderness below it. Then when you reach the top of that mountain, you can then see just what you went through to get to the top of it, and realize that it was all worth it.
Many times we loose our focus and direction with God. With what appears to be chain-reaction calamities, are really just areas of weaknesses in our lives surfacing, so that through prayer, God can bring them to our attention, and help us to overcome them. But often times, we don't pick up on God's little hints about these things, so as to allow him to do his work before they develop into bigger things .Unfortunately, this escalates our problems to the point that we view ourselves in a pit too deep to ever get out of. This causes some to loose their desire to hold on, and sadly, many give up and bail out.
But throughout these unfocused areas of our lives, God is still working. He shows us just enough of our lost sense of direction in our lives, in order that we would really begin to seek him again with more desire and determination, according to his direction.
Do we need a new beginning? Do we need to wipe the slate clean and start all over? Or do we need to allow God to refocus our blurred vision on the same issues at hand, allow him to help us make a new approach to these issues, and allow him to show us his way of winning the battles?
If we would allow God to clear our vision, refresh our commitment unto him, and allow him to fight our battles instead of we, ourselves, then he will bring us to the end of those battles, take us off of the front lines of life for a while, and bring us into his rest and relaxation, his 'R n R'.
Do you want to take your own vacation only to return to the calamities of life, unchanged? Or would you rather take God's vacation, where peace and rest always abounds and his vision is always clear? How clear is the vision of your decision?
Jan 1,1998